PATERSON — Pedro Rodriguez, who lost in the city's mayoral election in May, resigned from his civilian job at the city Police Department on Wednesday, saying he was being unfairly targeted by Mayor Andre Sayegh’s administration.

In explaining his resignation, Rodriguez said he was mistreated after Sayegh took office, including an Internal Affairs investigation over a Facebook posting, a probe that Rodriguez said was triggered by one of the mayor’s political allies.

“I can’t work in a place where I have to be constantly watching my back,” Rodriguez said in a phone interview Wednesday evening, explaining his decision to resign from the city telecommunications analyst job that paid him $72,828.

Rodriguez is the target of a lawsuit that developer Charles Florio, a Sayegh supporter, filed before the May election. Florio is accusing Rodriguez of using his city position to steer business to a security camera business owned by Rodriguez’s wife.

Rodriguez said people have been spying on him at his city job since Sayegh won the election.

“That’s laughable,” Sayegh said Wednesday when told of Rodriguez’s assertions that he was targeted by the mayor’s administration. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

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Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh is interviewed for an edit board meeting at the Record in Woodland Park on 08/21/18.
North Jersey Record

Rodriguez took the city telecommunications job in August 2015, when Joey Torres was mayor. Rodriguez had backed Torres' mayoral bid in the 2014 election. Rodriguez had state civil service protections in his city job, so Sayegh could not remove him, even though the two men were political adversaries, officials said.

Rodriguez finished third in Paterson’s mayoral election in May. He spent $220,000 of his own money on the race, according to reports that Rodriguez filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Rodriguez, whose resignation takes effect Sept. 7, said his city salary was the lowest-paid position he has held during his career. Rodriguez said he had worked for two decades in the telecommunications industry and expressed confidence that he would land a lucrative position in that field soon.